Friday, June 08, 2007

Photo Hunt: Art


I got a message last week from Mimi about the Blogblast for Peace. She suggested that I make a Peace Globe for my Photo Hunt entry this week, and I would have if:

  1. I had been able to figure out how to do it, and
  2. I had been able to find the time to post anything.
Better late than never, I say, and I am happy to have an opportunity to use this photo I took with my phone one day while I was sitting on my neighbor's stoop.

A peace van! It brought back so many memories of a time when I thought nothing of hopping in the car and driving cross country, or across Europe, reading willing and able to spread the word that would change the world: Cut out the bullshit!

Anyway, I was so thrilled to see it--and to see it on West 11th Street was strangely gratifying.

West 11th Street used to be...well, let's see. A block east of where I live, in 1970, some members of the Weather Underground were making bombs in the basement of their "safehouse," a brownstone that belonged to one of their parents, and blew the place up.

These days West 11th Street is more famous at the location of the Magnolia Bakery, where tourists stand in line for hours to buy crappy cupcakes just because the bakery was on Sex & the City!
I want to scream at them, "Why are you standing in line for cupcakes. You should be trying to overthrow the government."

Times have changed. Life used to imitate art. Now it imitates TV.







Sunday, May 20, 2007

Photo Hunt 58: Cook(ing)


No one in this household cooks. This is not usually a problem. We can, of course, boil water for pasta and pick up veggie salads at Lifethyme, the organic store down the street. We can order in from a variety of places. The only time we feel a bit at loose ends is when we have a dinner party.

We solved the problem recently by inviting people over for cereal. Who doesn't like cereal? Frankly, who wouldn't rather have cereal for dinner than a big heavy roast? Anyway, we bought several brands of cereal--from Cap'n Crunch to crunchy granola--plus assorted fruits, nuts and yogurts, and a couple of different types of juice to drink.

Then we realized that we had only two bowls that weren't cracked in half because Mouse (see above) likes to sit in them after he drinks the leftover milk. So we bought a set of six bowls.

It would have been cheaper to take everyone to a restaurant.

Sunday, May 13, 2007

PHOTO HUNT 57: FIVE

Monday, May 07, 2007

Photo Hunt: Childhood



Sunday, April 29, 2007

Photo Hunt 55: Rare




Thirty years ago, when I lived in the far West Village, the only people on the street late at night were the guys working in the meat markets and the transvestite hookers whose cat fights were more entertaining than TV. I always felt very safe. What would a transvestite want with me? And the beefy armed men in their bloody smocks were as good protection as a young girl could ask for. It was a great neighborhood back then, even if it did smell something awful in the slow aired days of August.

Today most of the meat market is gone. Its derelict cobblestone streets overflow with tourists, or hip dentists from New Jersey, who come to eat at the trendy restaurants or shop at the twee little pet boutiques and minimalist furniture stores. When I went out with my camera, I was afraid I would be mistaken for one of them. As if. I'm not rich enough or thin enough or young enough. As far as this neighborhood goes, I might as well be put out to pasture.

But I don't eat meat anymore, either.